Impending Sacrifice
by VKLW
Summary: Kakuzu is given an impossible chance to be returned to life, unfortunately, he needs Hidan to do it. The Zombie Brothers find a way to revive each other, and now that they are alive...Jashin will be thanked with many a sacrifice. Starting with the people who "killed" them. Multiple POV *rating may change*
1. Chapter 1

So, recently I stumbled upon a KakuzuxInoxHidan fic that made me realize that they are SO UNDERWRITTEN, and inspired me to write this one. I am trying to go for more realistic than crack with this fic, so honestly it's not very likely to end up the way you may think…but you may just enjoy the ride :p

I have not written a fanfic in years, so I may be a little rusty…but here is to an awesome comeback (I hope). Please drop me a word or two as a review! Let me know there are still people out there that haven't completely forgotten about the awesomeness of the Zombie Combo!

I do not own Naruto.

**Prologue**

**-Kakuzu-**

One would think that in a time of war no one was safe. At least that's how the villagers were acting. None came out of their shelters or their ramshackle excuses of safe havens for fear of being spotted by the enemy and ruthlessly murdered on sight.

They were wrong.

In fact, quite the opposite could be said. With all of the village shinobi stuck in their designated battlefield, the streets and close outlying areas of the village were completely devoid of anyone at all. An entire parade could march through these streets and no one would be the wiser, enemy or not.

It was because of this that Kakuzu had no problem finding the forest he was looking for without even the slightest inclination of trouble from the natives, even though his body was screaming in protest. He wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be on those same battlefields that kept the Leaf shinobi from being able to protect their homeland. With each passing moment he could feel his will being leached away by the jutsu that controlled his corpse. He had to act quickly.

The mounds of rocks and dirt had seals strewn across the mounds that made the 'burial' sites painfully obvious. Diffusing the traps set around them was almost as easy, and he scoffed at the arrogance of the Leaf shinobi that had obviously written off this place in all of the recent commotion of war. Did they really think that it would be safe to leave alone? Or had they really just been so pre-occupied that they had no choice but to leave it unprotected?

He shivered at the tug of the jutsu and threw the two bodies he had been carrying over each shoulder down onto the ground near the closest mound of dirt. It did not take him long to unearth the remains of a half-rotted body. He had never attempted using his Earth Grudge techniques on another in this way, and ultimately was unsure if it would work. But he had nothing to lose, and possibly a _life_ to regain. He replaced vital organs, sewed limbs back on to what was left of the torso, replaced large stretches of skin, tendon, arteries, and so much more.

He then dragged the headless body to the next pile of dirt and found himself sucking in an unnecessary breath as he surveyed the mound. He hated Hidan. He had only put up with him because killing him was literally impossible. And now his partner was his only hope. He cursed under his breath and began digging.

Over halfway through he began to hear wordless noises coming from the severed head whose mouth was no doubt filled with dirt and worms. Without bothering to dig further, his hand shot deep into the soft soil below him until he felt it. Just beneath his fingers he could feel the odd stringy texture of human hair. His fingers curled into a fist around it, and with one hard yank pulled the head out in a cloud of dirt and dust. He stared at the back of Hidan's silver haired head, and with a morbid curiosity twisted his wrist so that the head slowly swiveled in his grasp. Deep violet irises were sunken into dried and shriveled sclera. A rather _long_ worm had eaten through the tear duct in his right eye, and had made a journey from the tear duct into the closest nostril, twitching half-heartedly as it inched it's way farther into the man's sinuses.

Kakuzu smirked at the head as it gave an astonished blink at him. "You look like shit," Hidan's eyes clouded with rage as more choked muffled sounds came from his clogged throat and mouth. "Shut up and listen," Kakuzu snapped, "I have a plan." The head grew silent as he placed it on the ground, pressing the two stumped pieces of neck back together as his threads began reattaching the two.

**-Ino-**

Ino hummed to herself as she leapt among the branches of the familiar trees in the Nara Clan Forest. She smiled as she spotted a deer in the distance, nose buried in the underbrush as it chewed peacefully on its meal. It was almost funny how life could go on like normal after everything that had happened over the last few years. Even now, she was hurriedly making her way to find a large growth of healing herbs and roots that she knew grew abundant in this patch of forest to help replenish the thinning stock at the hospital.

It was now six months since the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, and rebuilding was taking its toll on everyone. She had to admit that despite this, it was heartwarming to see all the shinobi from the other villages lending a hand in any way they could to get Konoha back up onto its feet. Even the samurai from the land of iron were sending supplies to help with rebuilding. Absently she stroked the engraving on her allied forces forehead protector – it was now considered a sign of being a seasoned veteran and almost all shinobi who had received one in the war still continued to wear it visibly on their person, and she had hers tied to her belt so that it hung against her thigh. As her fingertips traced the kanji character she sent a prayer to her father.

_Everything is fine dad_, she thought with an odd sense of serenity, _you would be so proud._

She got to the thickest part of the wood and slid to her knees while simultaneously extracting her clippers. She began clipping at the stems and roots of the plants before her, doing her best not to do any lasting damage to the plants so they would continue to grow strong in the future. She placed each clipping in the small pack at her hip when she heard a hawk cry in the distance. She looked skyward through the trees, in hopes of catching a glimpse of what was no doubt a Suna messenger carrier, and instead frowned at the positioning of the sun. She hadn't realized it was getting so late, and she had to get back to Shikamaru's house to help cook dinner with her teammates. She clipped a bit more to fill her pack and stood up slowly, sliding her clippers away and dusting off her knees with a great sigh.

It was the anniversary of Asuma's death. At the thought she had turned her head to look deeper into forest before her. She knew that not too far off, _he_ was there, lying beneath meters of dirt. Her body seemed to move on its own as she stalked toward those trees, it wasn't until the trees began to thin that she realized she was standing just outside of the clearing where his body lay blown apart and buried in two separate holes.

"I hope you like the taste of worms you bastard," she stomped her way into the clearing.

Her heart pounded, faster and faster until she thought she would surely go into cardiac arrest. Her breath had gotten stuck and died somewhere between her lungs and her throat, and left a burning cold at the base of her throat. "No!" she choked as she stumbled closer to the first grave. Her breath suddenly came back in an uncontrollable rush and she began to hyperventilate, "No!" she gasped shrilly as she used chakra to cover the distance to the second 'grave' in a single leap.

"NO!" she shrieked as the forest suddenly seemed to close in around her. Her feet barely hit the dirt as she flew through the forest as fast as her chakra would allow. "Shikamaru!" she screeched, the scene of the empty graves replayed in her mind over and over. Her eyes darted to every shadow, every small sound – could he still be here? But she knew better, that dirt had been undisturbed for quite some time. She cursed for all of their stupidity. How could they have forgotten to check on him!?

"SHIKAMARU! CHOUJI!" the house was coming into view, and she could feel the cold chill of wind against the tears streaming down her face.

"Ino!" Shikamaru and Chouji's eyes were wide in alarm as they burst from the house, searching the trees frantically for their screaming comrade. "Ino!" Shikamaru's eyes widened impossibly larger as he focused on her form bursting through the trees. "Ino what's wrong?" Shikamaru grabbed her by the shoulders as she crumpled to her knees on the ground before him.

Tears choked her as she struggled to find her breath, "He's gone!" was all she could manage before dissolving into sobs on the ground.

**-Hidan-**

Blood covered everything. The bodies he had needed were scattered in piles all around the enormous circle of power he had created and yet they still threatened to topple over onto him. Some he had left hanging from the chains he had mounted to the ceiling, but even they had bodies beneath them, dangling feet resting against a chest, or thigh, or ass – however he had left the body to lay after tossing it unceremoniously out of his way. He had bled some, farmed others for organs, and did his absolute best to keep them alive right up until he didn't need them. But, it was very safe to say that Hidan had screwed this up a few times. He wasn't a doctor or a medic-nin, so if he accidentally took the torture too far they died whether he wanted them too or not.

He surveyed the carnage and would have been smiling if not for his heaving panting breaths. He thought his lungs would burst from his chest at any moment after the exertion it took to complete this ritual. He looked down at his form partner, all covered in fresh new stitching from all the replacement organs and most importantly, his new beating hearts. The longer he stared the more annoyed he became – nothing was happening and a sudden foreign feeling of hopelessness washed over him. It had taken years of experimentation to get to this point. He was so sure that this would work that he had never considered failure an option!

He closed his eyes and dropped to his knees in an exhausted heap, still trying to gain control over his heavy breathing. He blinked wearily at the stone altar in front of his face, the same stone altar that Kakuzu's lifeless body rested on, "Well Fuck!" he cursed and fell onto his back, staring at the roof of the rotting old Jashin temple. Fatigue washed over him as he stared at the stars, their twinkling was peaking through a hole where, he was almost sure, there should have been a support beam at one point. His eyes grew impossibly heavy and he sighed, looking one last time to his partner before succumbing to sleep.

"Wake up," Hidan grunted at the sudden interruption of his slumber.

"What the fuck, Kakuzu!?" Hidan snarled, "I'm trying to sleep here for fuck's sake!" He swatted at the offending foot that continued to dig into his side.

"You're an idiot."

"Yeah, well -!" Hidan's eyes shot open, mouth frozen around unspoken profanities. Familiar green on red eyes stared down at him, and he found a wild grin begin to split across his face. "Heh…ha…HA!" Maniacal laughter spilled from his throat and he leapt to his feet in giddy excitement. "It worked!?" He pushed Kakuzu on the shoulder in wonder before jumping back and laughing again, "It fucking worked!"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes as his partner fell to his knees clutching his rosary, going into a fervor of prayers thanking his god for this success. For once he didn't interrupt, after all, Jashin had given him his life back. The least he could do was allow one of them to thank him for it. It was only when Hidan's prayers seemed to be never ending that Kakuzu's already thin patience finally wore out.

"Enough! Fill me in on what I've missed," at being interrupted, Hidan turned his head with a withering glare, "It's time we got back on track," Kakuzu finished unfazed.

Hidan's glare melted into sadistic pleasure at his partner's words, "You've been dead almost a decade old-timer – shit has changed quite a bit," Hidan only smirked at Kakuzu's scowl. "All of our little friends have been ripening for their impending sacrifice."

With those words, Hidan witnessed the first real smile he had ever seen on his partner's face.

They're ALIVE. OMG!

Please review, so I will know if this story is worth continuing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for any support! I know it's hard to come by with this pairing!**

**This chapter is all Ino =D**

**Please leave me reviews! I came from an old school fanfiction where follows don't count!  
**

**Naruto is not mine! **

-Chapter 1

**-Ino-**

Shortly after Ino had gained control over her weeping, an uncontrollable fear had entered her body. Kakashi, now the Hokage, had put together multiple teams to investigate and search Konoha for any clues concerning Hidan's escape, but they all came back with nothing. Konoha had sent a mass alert to all the villages to update their Bingo books and post up the wanted posters so the public too, could add to the search. It had been almost ten years and still nothing had been found on the silver haired Jashinist.

It felt like years before Ino could sleep through the night without nightmares. It took Shikamaru even longer, even with Temari helping him through it all. Chouji had seemed relatively _stable_ about it all. After the first year of fruitlessly searching, they had gotten together at a restaurant for the anniversary of Asuma's passing. He had sat quietly the whole time while Shikamaru and Ino lamented back and forth. Shortly after the food came out he remained still, and finally Ino had taken notice. Good, bad, or indifferent, Chouji always ate. When she asked, he had turned a look on her that was as if he was seeing through her and it was so cold she had felt a shiver run down her spine. She still couldn't believe the words he had spoken while his eyes glared somewhere faraway.

"I don't know about the both of you, but when we walked out of that forest my only regret was that I couldn't blast him to pieces again – over and over again – because even if I did it a thousand times, it still wouldn't be enough payment for what he did to Asuma-sensei." He had stood and straightened to his full height, eyes suddenly regarding his teammates with a wildness they had never seen. "I'm almost glad he got out," Ino had gasped, Shikamaru had stiffened with eyes wide as saucers. "Because now we get to punish him again." He stormed out of the barbeque restaurant without touching any of his food.

Neither Shikamaru or Ino had ever fully realized Chouji's grief at the loss of Asuma. They had both been so busy wallowing in their own self pity that they were too busy relying on the Akimichi to help them that they hadn't seemed to much bother to help him. Ino had felt like selfish scum, and it had hit Shikamaru hard to know his friend had been suffering so much without his realizing it. That night, after Chouji had abandoned them to their cooling meal in a sticky vinyl booth, they had vowed to become stronger for their neglected friend's sake.

So now, at the age of 25, Ino had moved on, but never quite forgot about the silver haired missing-nin. She had continued her education in Botany, studying with Tsunade and Sakura until her apothecary skills were the greatest of the three, and then with a bit more work, she became the greatest in the world. Her ability to create medicines and identify plants was unmatched, she traveled the world and helped villages and hospitals with research and created new – better – medicine for the ailing public. She was finally proud of her work as a Shinobi, and knew that she had done Asuma proud.

She was kneeling on the floor in front of a half filled duffel bag. Ino was leaving on a mission in the morning and had only managed to pack about half-way as she scrutinized what kind of clothing and other miscellaneous things would be needed while in Takigakure. The Waterfall village had sent her a specimen of a plant they believed to be a new species. She had inspected the thing and ran every test imaginable before being able to claim that she was at a loss. Normally such an idea would frustrate her, but this was so exciting! They had been all too happy to pay the A-class mission fee, and had already sent compensation for any of her traveling expenses.

"How long will you be gone?" She smiled at the man suddenly crowding her bedroom doorway. He wasn't wearing anything but a pair of loose black sweat pants that seemed to barely cling to his narrow hip bones. In his hands he held two steaming mugs, and he pushed one toward her in offering.

"Probably about a week, at the most two." Ino lifted from her knees and went to him, accepting the coffee with a kiss to his stubbled jaw. Behind him, Akamaru was nudging insistently at his knees and whining for her attention. She knelt down and scratched the dog behind the ears.

She had been dating Kiba on and off again for the last three years. Even so, they had never really gotten more serious than Kiba sleeping over at her place when she was in town. He appreciated and understood that her position made it hard to settle down. She was only in Konoha maybe 150 days of the year, if not less. All he asked was companionship when she was home, and she gave it willingly. She wasn't too proud to admit that she had grown lonely without another warming her bed and gratefully accepted all of his affection, even if they both knew that she didn't love him.

"What about you?" she kissed Akamaru on the moist nose and turned back to her bags. She slid a coaster under her mug before setting it down on the bedside table before continuing to pack.

"I leave in 3 days. Estimated time out is a month," he frowned and sat his mug down beside hers on the table before plopping down on her bed to watch her fold her clothes. "Will I catch you when I come back?" He grinned sexily when she shot him a glare and whacked him with the coaster before sliding it under his mug.

She opened her mouth to respond and then furrowed her brow in thought. "It all depends how early you get back I guess? Two weeks in Waterfall, then I'll be here about two weeks and then I have that scheduled shipment to take to Suna."

Kiba nodded but didn't look happy. Ino tilted her head to the side as she inspected his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" was his quick response. Ino pursed her lips expectantly, waiting for him to continue. He broke under the scrutinizing gaze and his shoulders slumped. "It's just…" he pulled a hand through his short spikes and sighed, "I miss you, Ino."

Ino pinched her eyes shut and shook her head, "Kiba…"

"I know!I know!" he threw his hands up in surrender, "I'm not supposed too. We aren't supposed to be serious. I get it!" his head fell back onto the bedspread, and she was left staring eye-level at his knees.

Ino's shoulders slumped. This was the reason for their many "off-again" moments in their relationship. Kiba wanted more, and she wasn't ready or willing to give it to him. She was 25 years old and only getting older. She should be trying to settle down – she had even dreamed of it as a girl! Kiba was a wonderful man. He was kind, loyal, dedicated, reliable, funny, sexy, and fantastic in bed. He would be the perfect husband one day – she just wasn't sure if she would be his wife. She sighed and shook her head again even though he could not see her. She didn't want to fight about this now. She didn't want to go on a two week mission with her head clouded by her relationship problems, nor did she want it to cloud his. She placed her hands on his knees and lifted herself onto the bed.

He watched her curiously as she crawled on top of him, straddling his hips with a mischievous smile. She leaned down and kissed a bare tan pectoral before nibbling her way up to his lips. His hot kiss made her toes curl, his tongue was lazy and drugging and ignited a heat in her that was almost broken apart when his eyes searched hers, clouded with desire but still anxious and conflicted over their argument. She pecked him gently on the mouth once more and traced the red triangle on his face with a fingertip. "I'll think about it okay?" she whispered sincerely.

His eyes lit up at her words, "You will seriously think about it?"

"Yes, I promise," his grin made her giggle. "Now hurry up and give me a farewell I won't forget," she ground her hips into his to punctuate her words.

His grin turned lascivious as he grasped her hips and flipped her onto the bed to be on top. "I can do that."

The next day, Ino gave him a long kiss goodbye, he gave her a wink and a pat on the rear before she was off with her small research team and a handful of Takigakure shinobi escorts.

o

**I do like KibaxIno. To be fair I like Ino with anyone. As long as it's Ino. If anyone wants the KibaxIno lemon let me know! I have it written but am not going to post because it's just yummy smut and doesn't affect the story. Do you think what I have written so far warrants an increase in rating?**

**Next chapter is all Hidan and Kakuzu!**


	3. Chapter 3

Do you ever re-read something you've posted and see all the spelling mistakes and "WTF was I trying to say?" sentences and just get raged because you are BETTER THAN THIS? D:

I do. Went back and replaced chapter two after a little bit of editing. Nothing changed story-wise. Just fixed some spelling and one sentence that had me crossing my eyes in annoyance…

On with the show.

-Chapter 2

**-Kakuzu-**

It had taken a bit longer than expected to get his re-animated body back in-line. Even now he knew he was not at 100%, and though he had finally regained feeling in all of his extremities Kakuzu was still trying to get a hold of his chakra control. When he had awoken in the abandoned Jashin temple he had no chakra at all, and had feared that maybe staying dead would have been the better option.

It was Hidan that had quelled those thoughts. Compaining – loudly – that he had not given almost ten years of dedicated experimentation and grief just for Kakuzu to "shit it all away." Kakuzu had rolled his eyes, but after having to listen to all the apologies the Jashinist had sent up to his god for his "ungrateful dick" of a partner, he hadn't had those thoughts since.

"When the Hell are we going to get out of here anyway? This place is really starting to piss me off!" Hidan suddenly cut through his inner musings – apparently he had been talking this whole time.

"You are wanted in every nation. In some places your flyers are still hanging up. This is one of the few places left where we can lay low." This 'place' just so happened to be in his home village, in an intricate working of tunnels and caves that snaked their way through the hills and mountains of Takigakure. In one-hundred years they had barely changed, and Kakuzu was able to navigate them the same way he had when he was a child.

Hidan rolled his eyes, "The only reason you aren't is because everybody still thinks you're fucking dead! Anyway, how safe can this place be now that those assholes stumbled in here ooh-ing and ahh-ing over some damn cave grass? They are going to come back from the sounds of things!"

Kakuzu scowled, his temper flaring with each of Hidan's outbursts. "There are miles of tunnels to navigate through, plenty of caves to hide, and thanks to me," he glared pointedly at his teammate, "all of these tunnels have never been accessed before. Now shut up!" Part of his annoyance with all of this, was that the researchers had stumbled here almost immediately after he had re-opened the tunnels. He hadn't expected anyone to find them that fast.

Kakuzu had kept this place secret since he was a child. These tunnels were ancient, and if he believed in such a thing, he would say even magical. He took a moment to assess his surroundings. They were in a narrow cavern that swelled outward in the center to almost the entire length of the cave, making almost a diamond shape. There were stalagmites jutting from the floor almost as tall as he was, and years of dripping water had formed smooth rippling rock formations. There was a pool in the center of the room, surrounded by smooth rippled rock and jagged crystal formations that sent the light from their small lantern scattering across the ceiling like stars in the night sky. Only skies didn't have the imposing sharp points of the stalactites that hung down threateningly on the two occupants. Some were wider than ten men combined, others were like little pointed straws. And though some would say that the value of this cave was its beauty, Kakuzu would say that the truest value within it came from the water in that small pool.

All around it was that "cave-grass" Hidan had called it. It grew thick and wild, and in a dark place with no sunlight, it shouldn't be able too. But the water kept it alive. Chakra-infused water. He had brought Hidan here not only to hide, but to regain his lost chakra after his re-animation. Drinking the water had rejuvenated him more in minutes than a month of recovery. After a week, his chakra had flickered and then flared back to life, his body felt truly _alive_ again. Even Hidan had commented on the strength the water had seemed to give him. The researchers had stumbled upon a smaller cavern above them, more of an alcove really, as it wasn't even a quarter of the size of this one. Kakuzu had went to investigate the group, eavesdropping on every word and then after they had left found the same sprout-like weed growing through cracks in the stone floor. He would have ripped out any trace of the plant to make them lose interest and ignored them altogether if not for overhearing just one name.

Ino Yamanaka.

He would sell that blonde to the highest bidder. If he could manage to keep Hidan from killing her that is. His partner had made up his mind that the only reason Jashin had allowed for Kakuzu to be resurrected was because he wanted the souls of the shinobi who had killed him. Kakuzu personally thought the mountain of humans Hidan had slaughtered was payment enough. He wanted nothing more than a fat wallet and to continue on with his life. It just so happened that the pretty little blonde had a 20,000,000 bounty on her head – but only alive. There was a lesser bounty for 50,000 for her death, but if he could kill her, he could capture her just as easily. And there was a massive difference between thousands and millions.

"Did you hear that?" Hidan's sharp words made him freeze. His focus came back to the present as he listened intently.

At first all he could hear was the distant thunder of the waterfalls the village was known for. And then the shifting and scraping of rock came to his attention. It was almost annoying that Hidan had caught it first, it just went to show that he really needed to train harder if he wanted to be any semblance of his former self. "Voices," he spoke low enough that his words didn't echo.

"They're above us," Hidan breathed his reply, "I don't sense much chakra, not many shinobi with them." Kakuzu met his partner's eyes, a twisted grin split across the pale man's face. "Let's kill 'em!"

Kakuzu sighed. "Don't even think about it."

Hidan bristled, "I'm tired of this bullshit Kakuzu! Stop being a pussy and let's give these cocksuckers something to be afraid of!" Kakuzu stalked quickly toward his partner, closing the distance between them until he was only arm-length away. His anger seethed through him, the strings within him tightened and coiled menacingly as he tried to calm himself before he exposed them both to the people above them. "Nobody died and made you leader!" Hidan continued, "I'm tired of waiting for you to come up with a plan. I want bloodshed!" He turned and stormed toward the cavern entrance, swinging his scythe up on to his shoulder.

Kakuzu let out his breath in a serpentine hiss. "Yamanaka may be with them."

**-Hidan-**

Hidan's heart seemed to do a funny flop in his chest. With her name he could practically envision the hot little blonde before his very eyes. He could imagine her screaming, crying, and bleeding. It was enough to give him a hard-on. He had been waiting so patiently all these years to exact revenge, and the sweet feeling of one of his victims being so close made him stop mid-step, glaring at the rocks before him as doubt suddenly crept in. It was too good to be true.

"How do you know?" he tilted his head toward the taller man, seeing and not caring that the old-man seemed ready to strike him in anger.

Kakuzu had replaced his mask and head covering shortly after his revival, but his eyes burned with an intensity he only ever got when Hidan threatened to burn all his money. "The group that came here before. They were talking about bringing her in to look at it."

Hidan smirked as a butterfly seemed to flutter in his stomach. "Even better, let's go kill that bitch!" he almost giggled in giddy excitement.

Kakuzu came forward, closing some distance between them once more, "We don't know if she is with them you idiot! If you go and slaughter them she may never come!"

Hidan's lip curled, he weighed the options in his mind. As much as he hated to agree with the sacrilegious old-fart, they wouldn't get a better opportunity than this. "Fine!" he spat, "We'll recon first but if she's there I am sacrificing every last one. Jashin has been patient but it is time I sent some offerings his way."

"All but her," Kakuzu's words made him spin to fully face his partner. The incredulous look of disbelief on his face was probably comical, but Kakuzu didn't laugh.

"Excuse –the fuck – me!?" Hidan wanted her body bloddless and brutalized, what in the _Hell_ was this bastard thinking?

"She's got a bounty – "

"Oh fuck no!" Hidan turned away before he decked the man. "After what she did –"

"They want her alive," Kakuzu continued without acknowledging his obvious distress.

"_Alive_!?" Hidan almost roared it, but instead it came out as a guttural whisper. But if he had to listen to any more of this shit he wasn't sure he could keep his anger in check long enough to keep their position a secret. "Now I _know_ you are going fucking insane!"

"Think about it!" Kakuzu sudden;y tried cajoling him, "Imagine why they would want her alive? Whatever they intend to do with her is going to be much worse than whatever we will do!"

"Maybe you," Hidan sneered, "But not me. I've been fantasizing about that bitch's screams for much longer than you have! I was trapped in a hole in the ground with nothing but my thoughts to keep me going well after you were already dead!" His eyes grew wild as he recalled the worms digging through his eyes, eating away at all the soft flesh they could. Two weeks after being freed, Hidan had been eating barbeque when his nose had begun to tingle. He sneezed, and in place of snot, a centipede had crawled from his nostril. The memory only cemented his opinion on this matter – Jashin knew, how many bugs were still in his head!?

"I got you out in case you've forgotten," Kakuzu growled.

"And I brought you back from the dead! Don't play like I owe you any fucking favors!" Hidan crossed his arms over his chest in challenge.

Kakuzu let out a slew of curses that, in a better mood, would have made Hidan proud. Now it just served to frustrate him further. It was obvious neither were going to back down. "Let me take her alive, and I won't interfere with any of the others. You can take your time peeling off their skin or whatever the hell it is that you do with them. You can slaughter everyone we meet from here to the drop-off, which is in West Earth Country, might I add," He looked pointedly at the Jashinist, knowing his offer was a good one.

"Every single one we meet?" Hidan had been starved of his rituals since Kakuzu had holed them up in this shit-hole cave. Even before that, Kakuzu had forced him to tone it down to avoid unnecessary attention.

"If that's what you want."

"And what about the others?" Hidan narrowed his eyes.

"Bounties on all of them, but not one of them alive. As long as I can have the bodies when you're done, you can do what you want," Kakuzu opened his arms wide, an innocent gesture meant to show there were no tricks up his sleeve.

Hidan frowned, immediately regretting his choice even as he nodded in approval, "Fine blondie can live. Can we do this now?" his voice was strained and petulant.

Kakuzu stepped around him, not even trying to muffle the dark chuckle as he brushed past. Hidan struggled not to punch the back of his head as they moved forward with Kakuzu taking the lead.

Kakuzu was better at recon.

O

**I almost added the next bit with Ino in here, I've only now just realized how short these chapters are…but it's 3:30am, and I have an almost-3-year-old who will be bright eyed and bushy tailed at 8am. I have no beta, and I did not check this for errors. I'll fix any I find before I post the next chapter. Just wanted to get this one out there.**


	4. Chapter 4

Mehehehe, so...I make no promises on how fast this will be updated. love y'all!

-Chapter 3

-Ino-

Ino grunted as she squeezed through the narrow tunnel. Twice she had sucked in curses when her breasts were pressed so tightly to her chest that she had seriously thought they had flattened completely. They still ached, as did the rest of her body. Scrapes, bruises, probably even a few bumps on her head from running into a random stalactite here and there had her to the breaking point. If they didn't get there sooner rather than later she was going to tell them to stick this whole mission where the sun didn't shine.

"How much farther?" She ground out to the guide just ahead of her.

"Not far, we've almost reached it," Satoshi was an older man – Ino estimated he was in his mid-fifties – and was lean, almost thin. He had suffered from none of her woes as he slid through the tunnels like he had been born there. It was almost creepy how he slid along the walls, dodging and crouching suddenly without bothering to think to warn anyone behind him – Ino – that there were dangers ahead. He was the appointed guide of the team. The village leaders had claimed there was no one who knew the tunnels better than this man. Even annoyed with him as she was, Ino couldn't help but to agree.

"Thank Kami," she sighed as her shoulders slumped in relief. That same relief fled when her fingernails scraped painfully against an outcropping of rock. Her nails pulled away from the skin they had once been attached so tightly to and she yelped and held back a scream of frustration and pain. Envisioning the damage these stupid tunnels were causing her finely manicured nails made her want to weep. She didn't even want to begin to think about the dirt, so instead she imagined the spa she had passed on the way into the village. The village was covering all her expenses, and she was resolute that she would take advantage to the point of being unethical.

"Here we are," The cave-creature guide Satoshi held out a hand for her as she stumbled into the alcove. It was wide enough that she could hold her arms out and was able to touch both walls with only her fingertips, but it was smaller than she had imagined when they had described the place to her in the briefing. She looked back at the team behind her and felt the corner of her mouth drop as she considered the situation.

There were seven in her team: three Waterfall shinobi to protect, two researchers to help her gather and analyze, Satoshi the guide, and herself. If she had fully realized the size of her work space she would have never allowed so many. It was claustrophobic enough on the way in that she worried about all the carbon dioxide they were constantly expelling into the air. Satoshi had reassured her earlier that there was enough air flow in the caves that it was no different from breathing outside, but she still had to deal with the tightness in her chest when the walls seemed to close in and the air seemed too thick to breathe. She pinched the bridge of her nose and focused on the sounds of the waterfalls that echoed through the cave like a constant roll of thunder that never ended. It had been the only thing to soothe her during the entire trek through the cave. Nausea roiled in her belly once more, her throat constricted to fight the bile rising up, but she managed to swallow it down. She didn't have time to feel nervous, sick, irritated, or anything at all. It was time to work, and work did not wait for her to get in her 'happy place'.

"Miss Yamanaka?" the female herbologist behind her was obviously waiting on some sort of response.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" by the look on the woman's face she obviously had, and was not pleased at being ignored.

"The specimen is right there" the woman jabbed a finger indicating somewhere behind Satoshi.

Ino turned and clicked on her head lamp to illuminate the space before her. The uneasy feeling in her gut fled when she spotted the small growth of vegetationin the center of the room. Her eyes widened in wonder as she knelt down to inspect the plant. It grew out of a fissure in the center of the rock floor. Her eyes traveled the length of the crack from one corner of the cave to another and she sat back on her haunches, looking toward Satoshi.

"Is this place safe?" She gestured to the crack.

The guide let his eyes trail along the crack, kneeling down to touch it with his fingers. "It's rare to see a crack like this cause any problem. If you look closely you'll notice everything is sloping toward the center. No doubt this was probably part of a much larger cavern and it collapsed hundreds of years ago. This crack is just where everything compacted together."

Ino placed her hand against the rock and traced the crack with her fingertips, she was surprised to see them come away glistening. "There is water coming in, but its not gathering in the center," she mused as she rubbed her thumb against her fingertips. "Do we know what is below us?" Ino looked to the guide for answers once more.

Satoshi stroked his mustache and shook his head, "This part of the mountain has been completely untouched until recently."

"Why is that?" She was pulling out tools as she spoke, weary of the man's answer.

"The passages had been closed off by rock. There was no entrance." His matter-of-fact answer proved she had been right to be weary.

"And no one wonders why these passages suddenly opened?" The last thing she needed was some ghostly encounter, and she really didn't feel like dealing with bandits or criminals.

"A team was sent to investigate but they found nothing. that being said, it's not improbable to think they missed a few tunnels." Ino nodded in understanding. In other words, it was completely possible that whatever opened up the tunnels was still in here with them.

"Daichi, why don't you take Kaito and Rokurou and have a look around. See if you can find a tunnel that would lead below us." The three ninja seemed relieved by the order. She couldn't blame them, they were not helping with the plants and were otherwise being wasted standing in place while the walls seemed to shrink around them.

It was almost an hour later when Ino surveyed her work. The plants had been clipped, snipped, harvested, and investigated. Her party now had quite a bit of research material to work with, and it was time to go. She still longed for that spa, and hoped they'd be open late. "Where is Daichi?" Satoshi shrugged in response before lifting his radio.

"Daichi, come in." Ino stood up, dusting off her knees and meeting the older man's eyes as they waited for a response. The uneasy feeling slammed into her when they received no response. By the fourth try, Ino's heart was racing in her chest while her stomach twisted.

Satoshi didn't look alarmed in the least as he slid the radio back into its proper pocket on his belt. "Often our radios don't work inside the mountain. They could be one tunnel away but all the rock could block the signal. No reason to be alarmed," Ino's shoulders slumped, so much for that spa.

"Okay, let's get this stuff out of here and back to the lab. Start preliminary testing and get one of these babies planted in a sim-environment. Satoshi-" she turned from the other two to look at the creepy cave guide, "Let's go ninja hunting."

Satoshi smirked ever so slightly, but his eyes twinkled with mirth. Ino was shocked to see a sudden warmth and attractiveness to his features she hadn't fully appreciated before. Satoshi was no doubt a man who enjoyed a bit of wit and dry humor. "Any idea where you'd like to begin?"

To her annoyance, her discomfort also seemed to amuse him. She watched the retreating backs of her research team before answering. "The spa in town would be nice," she had grumbled it to herself, but Satoshi's smile meant he had heard. "I can sense chakra nearby, but it's hard to tell where. I'm just going to sniff around until it gets stronger I suppose."

For the first time Satoshi looked uneasy. "I would recommend wasting no more than an hour on the sniffing. We are losing charge in our flashlights and if we lose our light it will be impossible to get out of here."

Ino gulped, that nauseous feeling reared its ugly head at her. Her hand went to her throat, as if rubbing at it would settle the stomach acid that was gathering there. "That sounds great," her sarcasm snapped like a whip. "Now let's get moving!"

Approximately fourty-five minutes later, Ino trudged behind the guide with her hands cupped around her mouth as she called for the lost ninja. Everything had failed, and their time was getting far too short for her comfort. Satoshi sighed, "Miss Yamanaka it is time to go. We only have enough energy left in these to get out."

Ino's disappointment was plain on her face. She didn't want to leave them behind, even if they were from a different village they were still her comrades on this mission.

"We can send out a search team at first light tomorrow. Our shinobi may not have the same reputation as those in Konoha, but they are still shinobi. They will survive on their own for one night."

She couldn't argue with that even though all her sense were screaming that something was terribly wrong. "Okay, lead us out."

She followed him without a word. Her intense searching had taken them far deeper into the tunnels than even Satoshi had been comfortable with, and now he was concentrating on retracing their steps. He was shining his flashlight down every passage, looking for the chalk marks he had made on the walls. After a while he became frustrated, "We did not travel down this passage this far, I must have missed a mark."

"There is no way Satoshi, I looked at all of them the same as you, there were no marks. We just need to keep going," Ino didn't like the set of his jaw as he nodded in agreement. She crossed her arms over her chest as if to ward off a sudden chill. He was right though, they hadn't come this far down any passage. "Is there another way to find a way out."

"Working on it," his tone was short and Ino sighed. "We need to speed up, at this rate we will be the ones who need a search team." Ino agreed and they began at a cautious jog. He shined his light like before, down each passage until he stopped so abruptly her face smashed in between his shoulder blades. "Aha!" Their down the adjacent passageway was a chalk drawing of an arrow.

Ino sighed in relief as she followed Satoshi into the passage. They continued their jog until the were suddenly standing between four tunnels. Her brow furrowed, Satoshi stiffened. "I don't remember being in the middle of a junction like this," Ino finally voiced what was obviously racing through both of their heads. Satoshi said nothing, swinging the light down each tunnel until he froze in place once more. Ino followed the light's path until her stomach dropped down to her knees.

"Miss Yamanaka!" Satoshi shouted after her as she darted down the path.

"Daichi!" she shouted, she could see his face, eyes closed as he lay across the passage floor. It wasn't until she got closer that the splash beneath her feet drew her attention. The blood was thick, already congealing - he had been here long enough that his blood had gone cold. She reached down to feel for a pulse and pulled her hand away slowly as she confirmed her fears. She pulled at the corpse's flak-jacket, trying to assess his body for wounds when the light in the tunnel went out. "Satoshi I need that light!" she barked in annoyance. When he didn't respond she let out a string of colorful language and stood up, fully facing the entrance "Satoshi!" She glared into the darkness where the guide had been standing, "I said - Ah!" She shielded her eyes as she was suddenly blinded by the flashlight. "What in the Hell, Satoshi!?" she snarled as she tried to rub the black spots from her vision.

"Don't worry princess, seeing is the least of your fucking worries."

Ino's heart seemed to stop altogether at the words whispered in her ear. She twisted around as she stumbled back but the black spots were still dancing before her vision. She could see silver hair, the form of a man, pale skin. Her heart thundered as her instincts and the adrenaline kicked in. "Run, Satoshi!" she screamed as she bolted back toward her guide. But even as she ran she looked back - Hidan leaned against the cave wall with seemingly no intention of chasing after her. She realized her grave mistake then, her head turned back to the foe before her too late. She had ran right into his arms - literally. She bounced off of the accomplice's chest and tried to use the momentum to turn out of his grasp, but his arms were like iron around her. He held her arms crossed in front of her, the light had dropped to the ground and plunged them into darkness as she struggled to free her hands to defend herself. Hidan's cackling growing closer made her fight harder, but the man who held her seemed to be having no trouble at all. She sucked in a breath, the fight leaving her as her old enemy knelt to pick up the flash light.

Hidan held the light beneath his chin, like a child telling a ghost story, "Boo!" he shouted, jumping toward her.

Ino yelped, flinching and struggling to protect herself even though the living straight jacket still held her arms across her middle. Hidan seemed to have a good belly laugh at that before advancing closer. He was less than an arm's length away when he stopped, no longer smiling. He looked her over from head to toe, his gaze made her feel like there were a million insects crawling over her flesh. He looked past her to the man who held her "What do you want to do now?"

"Knock her out," the voice made her blood run cold. She was craning her neck to look back at the man, trying to confirm that her mind had to be playing tricks on her. With the light pointed in the wrong direction, all she managed to glimpse was a flash of emerald green irises, floating in a sea of garnet sclera.

"No!" was all she could gasp before a sudden throb of pain and her vision blackened.

**O**

**I know I said i'd try to make these longer but...well...I DIDN'T! Please be happy with the little bit more I managed to churn out!**


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